Swivel shoe buckle



Aug. 4, 1959 ALBINIANO 2,397,566

SWIVEL SHOE BUCKLE Filed Aug. 4, 1958 l5 2/ F l G. 3

INVENTOR.

LARRY ALBINIANO ATTORNEY SWIVEL SHGE BUCKLE Larry Albiniano, Providence, Rl, assignor to F. Ronci Co., Inc., Centredale, R1, a corporation of Rhode Island Application August 4, 1958, Serial No. 753,030

1 Claim. (Cl. 24-188) My present invention relates to the buckle art and more particularly to a novel construction of a shoe buckle The principal object of the present invention is to provide a shoe buckle which will swivel to permit the strap to be turned on the shoe.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a swivel type shoe buckle which has a maximum of clearance with the shoe to eliminate abrasion.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a swivel type shoe buckle which is simple and easy to thread with the shoe strap.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a swivel type shoe buckle which is economical to manufacture and assemble on the shoe.

With the above and other objects and advantageous features in view, my invention consists of a novel arrangement of parts, more fully disclosed in the detailed description following, in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, and more particularly defined in the appended claim.

In the drawings,

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a buckle of the present invention mounted on a shoe.

Fig. 2 is a section taken on line 22 on Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a side elevation of the buckle with a strap threaded through.

Fig. 4 is a plan View of the buckle.

In certain types of shoes, particularly womens and childrens it is sometimes desirable to provide a strap which can be pivoted to swing the strap towards the back of the shoe to allow the shoe to be worn without the strap. This is accomplished by attaching the strap to the shoe with a rivet which permits the strap to swivel. The buckle is attached to a short length of strap which is also riveted to the other side of the shoe. Thus with the longer portion of the strap threaded through the buckle, the riveted straps permit the assembly to be swiveled to the front or rear.

The present invention constitutes an improvement on the above described construction. The applicant proposes to eliminate the short strap and the labor necessary in attaching the buckle to the short strap by providing a swivel type buckle which can be attached directly to the shoe. Referring to the drawings, Fig. 1 illustrates a shoe having a strap 11 attached on one side of the shoe by a rivet 12 which permits the strap 11 to be swiveled into the dotted line position shown in Fig. l. The buckle 13 is attached to the other side of the shoe and also swivels at the point of attachment so that the entire assembly can be readily turned from the back of the shoe to the front of the shoe as shown in dotted lines. This is accomplished by the use of the novel swivel buckle 13 more fully illustrated in Figs. 2, 3 and 4.

Referring to Fig. 4, the buckle 13 comprises a generally rectangular frame having side bars 14, and a rear end bar 15, and a recessed front bar 16 upon which a roller 17 is loosely mounted. Towards the front portion of the buckle is an integral cross bar 18 having a notched center portion at which a conventional tongue 19 is mounted so that it pivots and extends over the roller 17.

Between the cross bar 13 and rear end 15 is an attaching cross bar 20 having a widened central portion 21 with an opening 22 therethrough.

In the normal buckle constructions the side bars 14 are bent upwardly at the rear so as to raise the rear end 15 of the frame. This permits the end of the strap 11 to be easily slipped under the rear end 15. Since the front end of the buckle is normally free, no provision need be made for threading the strap therethrough. However, as can be seen in Figs. 1 and 2, the buckle 13 may be positioned in longitudinal alignment with the shoe making it awkward to thread the strap 11 into the front part of the buckle. The side frames 14 are therefore also bent upwardly at the front to provide an arcuate shape when viewed from the side as shown in Fig. 3.

Now referring to Fig. 2, the buckle is swivelly mounted on the shoe by means of a rivet 23 passing through the opening 22. Since the buckle must swivel smoothly Without abraiding the shoe leather, this enlarged portion 21 of the cross bar 20 is fiat and constitutes the only portion touching the shoe with the rest of the buckle curving away from the surface. Also referring to Fig. 2 it will be noted that the tongue 19 is wrapped around the cross bar 1%. To prevent this thickness from rubbing against the shoe the cross bar 18 is raised as shown in Figs. 2 and 3 so that it is free to pivot without touching the shoe.

As can be seen in Fig. 2, the strap 11 can be easily pushed upwardly behind the roller 17' with the tongue 19 entering one of the strap openings. The free end of the strap can then he slipped under the rear frame portion 15. If it is desired to wear the shoe with the strap, the buckle 13 and strap 11 are swiveled on the rivets 12 and 23 to turn the assembly into the dotted line position shown in Fig. 1. The buckle can readily be stamped integrally from sheet stock so that the tongue and roller are the only added parts necessary. The use of the buckle of the present invention eliminates the labor and cost of a separate small strap and materially reduces the cost of assembly. The buckle itself can be manufactured automatically in the same manner as conventional type buckles. Other advantages of the present invention will be readily apparent to a person skilled in the art.

I claim:

A buckle adapted to be swivelly mounted on a shoe, said ebuckle comprising a rectangular frame having spaced parallel side bars and integral front and rear bars, a pair of spaced parallel crossbars extending transversely between said side bars, a tongue having one end formed into a loop extending around one of said crossbars, said tongue crossbar extending upwardly out of the plane of said side bars, and means associated with said other crossbar for swivelly mounting said buckle on a shoe, said means including a wide central portion on said other crossbar having a central rivet opening, said side bars being arcuate to position said front and rear bars and said tongue crossbar away from the surface of a shoe when said buckle is mounted on a shoe by riveting through said rivet opening, whereby said buckle will swivel on the shoe with said front and rear bars and said tongue crossbar and tongue loop portion positioned out of contact with the surface of the shoe.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,479,515 Russell Jan. 1, 1924 1,494,606 Lake May 20, 1924 1,652,354 Grubs Dec. 13, 1927 2,368,514 Baehr Jan. 30, 1945 2,505,076 West et al Apr. 25, 1950 

